2013 Topps Update Hanger Pack Match Race - Target Red vs Vanilla

Really this isn’t a competition. Either you like the red parallels or you don’t but I wanted to take a few minutes to examine the contents of a Hanger Pack of each.

Today we open our Hanger Pack analysis with the vanilla non-red Parallel version.

2013 Topps Update #US30 Mike Adams

This is the one Phillies card I picked up in the 72 cards pack.  Low-level card , the Phils needed Adams to sure up their shaky bullpen. - Unfortunately Mike Adams spent most of 2013 on the DL . He is on a 2 year stretch, hopefully his 2014 campaign will be more productive.  I believe this is my first card of Adams in Phillies pinstripes.

The Adams card was one of 66 Base Cards I picked up in the Hanger. The base cards also included both Zach Wheeler RCs

2013 Topps Update #US220 Zach Wheeler (rc  Rookie Debut)

2013 Topps Update #US50 Zach Wheeler (rc)

I assume the rookie debut cards are part of the base set as they are in the regular checker.  The b-side of the cards give the players line for the game and have a related caption. I like that the Rookie Debut note on the front of the card is a stamp - even if it is Chrome.   

More Vanilla

Among the highlights of the Base Cards were The nice shot of Mariano Rivera entering his final All-Star game. Phungo Favorite Wil Myers RC.  Reliever Brian Wilson has his signature look, with a new ballclub. The Drake Britton RC nicely displays the Boston Strong logo.

Inserts

71 Topps Mini of Clayton Kershaw and the Chasing History of Jim Palmer highlight this set of inserts 

Making their Mark

I believe The Make their Mark cards are an insert that notes a big game for a player early in their career.  The Kyle Gibson card is from his Debut.  Marcell Ozuna's card is from his first HR which occurred a few days after his debut - unfortunately the HR was in a game versus the Phillies :(

That is it for our first Hanger Pack.  Tomorrow we will take a look at the Target Hanger.

2013 Topps - Looking Back

2013 Topps S1 First Pack (Retail)

2013 Topps S2 Hobby Packs

2013 Topps S1 & S2 Phillies Checkers

2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price

2012 Topps Hanger Pack

Sources

Baseball-ref.com

Hero Numbers Part II: Can they Mean More?

2012 Topps #100 Jose Bautista
 As an adult I now realize Hero is a term that is more appropriate when applied to my local EMT making snap decisions under difficult circumstances then a Millionaire Ballplayer throwing and hitting a little white ball.  In that way I suppose we should use the term Glamor Number, but Hero Number is what I grew up with and I am sticking to it.


This line of thinking let me down a strange path ...Lets look at this years Heroes.  


100 Jose Bautista 
200 Miguel Cabrera
300 Josh Hamilton


I quickly noted that the latter 2 in the group have had various issues with alcohol and substance abuse. 

Should Hamilton and Cabrera get Hero Numbers?

I wanted to find out how much this is noted by fans of the players.  

Regarding Miguel Cabrera 
Too Many Verlanders: 
When he got in trouble again for drinking and driving, I definitely got very frustrated, as I get every time some knuckleheaded gazillionaire athlete, who could easily afford 10 different limo drivers every night, pulls that crap.  He's more frustrating than most for me because he plays for a team I root for, and more importantly he obviously has so much more talent than almost every Major Leaguer that I would hate to see him throw that away.


Then TVL went on to add an interesting comment
....while what Cabrera did (multiple times) was very reprehensible, and probably should have resulted in more severe punishment either by the local authorities, MLB or both, I find people criticizing Cabrera and fawning over Josh Hamilton frustratingly hypocritical.
 
When I asked the questions Too Many Verlanders was unaware that one of the other Hero Number Mates was Hamiton. 


Regarding Hamilton 
Play at the Plate

We would all hope the people our kids look up to would be solid citizens who don’t make mistakes.  In reality, many athletes aren’t good role models.  It could be for any variety of on or off field behavior, but it’s true nonetheless.  The thing I like about Josh Hamilton is that he stood up and faced the media, and thus his fans, when he could have just tried to ignore or cover up his recent relapse.  All of us make mistakes, but most of us don’t face the scrutiny someone like Hamilton faces.

interesting comments all.   And I am glad I asked the question. 

Granted at the time of publication Topps didn't know that Hamilton would tarnish his refurbished image.  Regardless It's obvious that Topps didn't really note off the field activities when awarding the numbers.


And I ask Why Not? 


Would you consider it a gimmick if Topps awarded the Hero Numbers to star players who are also solid citizens??? 

Check the Right Hand Side - Topps sort of owns the concept of Hero Numbers so why not capitalize on it.   

Award Numbers 100 200 and 300 to star players who are also part of the community and generally on the good behavior side.  

Hero Numbers could be a topic of instant conversation every year and not just another lame gimmick.

On Deck
Hero Numbers Pt III - Two more Hero numbers I want to see 


Replay - Previous Post on Hero Numbers Plus
Are Hero Numbers Significant 
A comprehensive List of Topps Hero Numbers (1952-2012) compliments of Night Owl Cards  big THANKS 


Thanks also to Too Many Verlanders and Play at the Plate for some insights into two of the games biggest stars. 

Hero Numbers Pt I: Why Don't We Talk about Hero Numbers?

When I collected cards as a kid I had a certain fascination with Hero Numbers and to some extent I still do.  Each year I enjoy seeing which players have been awarded hero numbers - and with heritage it is interesting to see what players get paired with stars of yesteryear on those numbers.  

2012 Topps #100 Jose Bautista (b-Side)


Recently it occurred to me with literrally hundreds of blogs discussing every topic in the world related to cards we rarely hear any discusiion about Hero Numbers.  Heroes are an aspect of Topps Cards that date all the way back to their classic sets of the 1950s. 

This got me thinking, am I the only person that gives a damn about hero numbers?  Am I just numbers obsessed with numbers while the typical collector views them as fluff.

This led me to ask around for some outside opinions. 

One of the folks I thought of turning to was our resident Mathamatician, Reds Fan, and Super BoxBreaker Chris from Nacho's Grande.  I was interested on his take on numbers and our perception of them.

Nachos Grande: 

Although mathematicians don't think of numbers in terms of "hero" numbers much - they do think in terms of different bases.  For most of us, we are used to counting by tens (base 10) so numbers like 10, 100, and 1000 DO hold a special place in a mathematicians heart.  Computer scientists are used to base 2 (1s and 0s) so the powers of 2 are their form of "hero" numbers (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.).

Ahh - of course - we have 10 fingers and that is the basis for a lot of our numbers thinking - can you imagine if we were all Simpsons - Our hero Numbers would be 80, 160, and 240 - actually they would still be 100 200 and 300, but they woudl occur every 80th card.  The 660 card set woudl contain 8 heroes rather than 6. 

For the record The Computer Scientists Hero Numbers in 2012 Series 1 would yield: 

2  Trevor Cahill

4  Jeremy Guthrie

8  Mike Adams

16  Desmond Jennings 

32   Detroit Tigers Post Season highlights

64 Michael Martinez

128  Lucas Duda

256  Mat Latos

of course all your Hero Numbers would be in S1 - Series two would only yield 512.  Interesting list there - Lets face it only in the Comp Sci world of Binary Numbers is Michael Martinez a Hero Number.  I think Desmond Jennings is a prospect - maybe he is a future HN candidate.

Next up I spoke with Greg from Night Owl Cards.  The Night Owl is one of the stronger Topps enthusiasts among card bloggers and is always good for fresh insight on every aspect of collecting.

Night Owl Cards: 

I've read hero numbers in the past from older blogs, like The Baseball Card Blog. I thought it was something that had been addressed pretty completely already so that's why I've never mentioned it on my blog.

As for what I think: I grew up with the hero number system, so it makes sense to me. At some point in the '90s, Topps got away from it. Now it addresses it -- sort of. It seems to be that it uses an appropriate hero number whenever it feels like it -- which is basically Topps' philosophy in everything now. "If I feel like it."

Personally, I'd like Topps to do what Fleer used to do -- group each team together by card number. Maybe it wouldn't look as great in a binder, but it sure makes it easy for collectors in other ways.

Interesting take here - Has Topps devalued the Hero Number by ignoring them?  Recently Topps Series 1 and 2 have at least given the idea a nod.  The Updates and Highlights sets have been sporadic.  Heritage only recognizes Hero Numbers to pair active players with their historically significant teammates. 

I was a little dismayed about all this.  Maybe I am the only person that cares about Hero Numbers and that is why they do not get talked about.  Perhaps they are too inherently obvious and posting about them is just restating the obvious.  

The last paragraph from Night Owl also bummed me out.  I have never been partial to the Fleer/UD thing of bunching teams together - I like the cards spread out through a set and seeing a binder page with a variety of players - that's just personal preference.  I appreciate the convenience of having all of a teams players in one area - for me the variety in a base set trumps that convenience.  In the NetWorld there are plenty of places to dig up team set information. 

Exception - Dammit Topps can you put the League Leaders cards together.  sprinkling them through the set is just plain annoying.

On Deck

Hero Numbers 2012 - in the Part 2 we will discuss the Merits of this years Heroes Mr Bautsita (above), Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton